I mostly keep track of books on #StoryGraph so I was a little surprised after finishing All The Light We Cannot See by #AnthonyDoerr that of all the people who answered ‘Flaws of characters a main focus’ only 38% said Yes 🤔 I mean Werner is a complex sympathetic character but the ways he is complicit in Nazism is a major driver of the plot. If that ain’t a character flaw I don’t know what is! Nevertheless that complexity is part of why it’s a great book that avoids cliche @bookstodon
@FrancescaJ@bookstodon Y'know, I always feel like I have a hard time understanding that question. So when writing my own reviews - for fiction novels at least - I tend to interpret it as "is the plot largely driven by the main character's struggle to overcome their own character flaws?" (I'm sure there are other ways that the character's flaws could be a main focus of the novel, but I have a hard time imagining what they would be.)
Now, I don't know anything about this particular book, but I could imagine that if other people are thinking the same lines I would, in order to answer that question with a "yes" it's not enough for the main character to be a Nazi. He would have to perceive it as a flaw and work to overcome it, and that would have to drive the story. And maybe it does, I dunno... but if not, I understand answering "no" there.
@bookstodon@diazona I 100% agree with you on both. That question could be interpreted many ways. Werner’s unease over his actions as a member of the German army is absolutely the driving force of his section of the novel though!
As to other ways character flaws can drive a novel: I just read The Prestige which has an unreliable narrator and 91% said flaws are a main driver of plot. Plus it is a great book.